Only two weapons from the firearms cache seized by the
Philippine National Police (PNP) in Santolan, Quezon City over the weekend were found to
have been issued to military personnel.
This was announced by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
chief-of-staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya Wednesday.
He added the AFP conducted an inventory of all the weapons
at its arsenal after PNP Director General Ronald "Bato" Dela Cruz
claimed that many of the weapons were sneaked out of military stores.
On Tuesday, Dela Rosa presented to the media suspected
gunrunner Unding Kenneth Isa, who is allegedly one of the weapons suppliers of
the Abu Sayyaf and warlords operating at the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
Seized from the suspect and his three companions were an
arms cache consisting of M-4 carbines with M-203 grenade launchers, M-14 and
M-16 automatic rifles, an AR-15 rifle and a .45 caliber pistol with two
magazines and thousands of assorted ammunition rounds in boxes with Government
Arsenal markings.
"Results of the accounting reveal that all the firearms
recovered by the Police were not issued to the AFP, except two firearms to wit:
"a) M-16A1 SN 123760 issued to the defunct Philippine
Constabulary Support Command on 08 July 1982; and
"b) M-203 Grenade Launcher issued to Service Support
Command now Army Support Command on 22 May 1990," Visaya added.
The AFP chief said he has directed all intelligence units of
the Army, Navy, and Air Force to continue their exhaustive investigations to
help the PNP determine where the ammunition confiscated were issued.
As this develops, AFP public affairs office chief Marine
Col. Edgard Arevalo declared:
"We will leave no stone unturned in this investigation
and ensure that these unscrupulous acts will be stopped --as it must
immediately stop-- and the perpetrators meted stiff punishments provided under
the Articles of War particularly AW 85 as may be warranted by Court Martial."
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=926850
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